Creative Musicking for Eco-consciousness

Guided meditations: the four elements

Objective: Ground into an expressive arts experience integrating with the ecology.

Sitting comfortably, with eyes open, closed, or with a soft gaze (letting the eyelids rest, without closing fully all the time), breathe naturally at first. Start to bring attention to the breath, noticing the depth and rate of inhalations, the length of rests, and the depth and rate of exhalations. Then allow breathing to return to normal. Guide students in creating mental settings and sensations by narrating descriptions based on one of the following themes, “the safe support of the ground beneath me,” “wading in the water,” “warm sunlight,” or “like a tiny feather in a gentle breeze.”

“Four elements” chant*

Objectives: Feel and perform a steady beat, move in sync with a rhythmic chant, and create original movements to accompany a given text and rhythm.

Growing in the soil,

planted in the Earth,

I am natural too.

Flowing like a river,

there’s water in me,

I go and never stop.

I am a fire,

illuminate,

shining bright and giving heat.

I am a tree,

my roots, my branches,

they flow in the wind.

*What movements can be added throughout the chant?

Waves and lines

Objectives: Attune to and demonstrate comprehension of dynamic levels and changes.

Materials: paper and pencils.

While listening to a (preferably local) soundscape recording of a beach, draw a meandering line all over a blank piece of paper. This can be done with your dominant or non-dominant hand, and it helps to hold the pencil like a paintbrush. As you listen and continue with your meandering line, draw lighter and slower when the waves recede, and faster and darker as the waves crash. Aesthetically, this activity helps develop awareness and understanding of volume dynamics. Holistically, this is a mindful, immediate, embodied response to the stimulus of the soundscape recording, while making a connection to the water element, the Earth’s oceans, and the celestial rhythm of the tide.

Marking the cricket

Objectives: Attune to rhythmic patterns, demonstrate comprehension of patterns, and awareness of pattern changes.

Materials: paper and pencils.

While listening to a (preferably local) soundscape recording of a cricket, draw small, short dashes with a pencil on a piece of paper whenever you hear the cricket chirp. This can be done with your dominant or non-dominant hand, and you may hold the pencil like a paintbrush or with a traditional grip. Notice the rhythmic patterns of the chirping, and notice when there are moments of extended rests. Notice when there are slight changes in the rhythmic patterns—usually from groupings of two chirps to groupings of three.

Transcribing a birdsong

Objectives: Attune to and demonstrate comprehension of pitch, melodic contour,  rhythm, dynamics, timbre, intentionality connected to musical choices, and the effects conveyed through musical choices.

Materials: paper, pencils, crayons, or other colorful materials.

While listening to a (preferably local) soundscape recording of birdsong, draw lines on a blank paper corresponding to what you hear. This can be done with your dominant or non-dominant hand, and you may hold the pencil like a paintbrush or with a traditional grip. You may draw all over the paper, as needed—you do not need to draw from left to right like a traditional musical score. Try to draw roughly according to the following elements: pitch (low pitches lower on the paper, high pitches higher up), rhythm (short dashes or dots for shorter notes and lines for longer notes), dynamics (quiet, loud, crescendo, and decrescendo marked by darkness of the marking), timbre (smooth, crunchy, singing, clicking, etc. in the texture of the marking), and perceived mood (joy, longing, sorrow, ferocity, etc. however you would like to notate this). It is important to know that it will likely be impossible to capture everything and that having fun with the activity is more important than being totally accurate. Optional extension: play the recording a second time, and add color to what you have already drawn.

Thunderstorm performance

Objectives: Imagine and perform sounds using body percussion, following the cues of a conductor, and in consideration of the ensemble context; identify the various natural sounds and sound sources related to a thunderstorm, deepening our understanding of weather and the natural world.

You are a conductor. As you move your arm across the ensemble, the players make noises comparable to those heard in a thunderstorm (hand rubbing, finger-snapping, desk tapping, body patting, foot stomping, etc.). The players can either be assigned a specific sound, or they can be given options. As you move your arm in the opposite direction, the noises end. As you move your arms up and down, the volume increases and decreases accordingly. To diversify the sounds that are made throughout the process, different hand shapes can signal different sounds (i.e. two fingers meaning finger-snapping, a closed fist meaning foot stomping). As soon as you can, give up the podium to a student leader!

Collaborative soundscape

Objectives: Select, arrange, and refine found sounds, create original sounds and music using various sound sources, and attune to the differences and changes in sound throughout an environment.

Materials: computers/tablets, speakers, and internet access.

This activity using computers allows individuals to contribute to a larger work created collectively. Students play sounds from their computer (preferably from local settings) and listen around the room to what their peers are producing. Give students an opportunity to walk around the room to hear how the soundscape changes when they get closer to different students.

Composing with soundscapes

Objectives: Select, arrange, and refine found sounds, create original sounds and music using various sound sources; identify how listening and environments impact thinking and feeling, and relate musical elements and expressions to personal thoughts and feelings.

Materials: computers/tablets, speakers, and internet access.

This activity using computers is better for younger students, perhaps in grades K and 1. In two separate browsing tabs, the students can open a website for music making such as Chrome Music Lab, and in the other tab, a website with soundscapes or individual natural sounds. The composition can be approached in multiple ways, for example, choosing a “favorite soundscape,” then composing a song or sound that accompanies the soundscape, or one that “sounds like it belongs there.” Another way would be to compose the music first, then find a soundscape that fits in some way. The great thing about this is that students may begin to link concepts of anthropocentric and ecocentric musics. Holistically, the theme is “how can we live in harmony with our world, or gain a better sense of placement and connection within our ecology?”

Composing and teaching bird songs

Objectives: Listen to local soundscapes; differentiate between various sound sources; deepen understanding of sound/music in ecosystems; generate and refine original musical ideas; identify and visually represent qualities of music including pitch, melodic contour, rhythm, tempo, articulation, and dynamics; sing/sound as an ensemble.

Materials: local soundscape recordings, speakers, paper, pencils, and coloring utensils.

This activity is essentially an exercise in using a novel notation system and assigning sounds to certain symbols. Listen to lots of recordings of (preferably local) birds, and with students, start to name the sounds heard, or describe differences in sounds with students (providing sentence starters and reviewing vocabulary before starting will be helpful). Next, introduce how birds teach each other their songs, and explicitly name how this is comparable to how humans use and disseminate music. A great video on YouTube (https://youtu.be/r5_ZSnFDPR) can be used for this. Then allow time for students to compose their songs, with the intention of making them short and memorable so they can easily teach the song to their peers (allowing the use of coloring utensils can help students more easily differentiate between symbols, and it can be another method of creating and being expressive without leading to a composition that is too lengthy or complicated for the goal of the activity). Finally, allow students to perform and teach their “bird song” to the class, so they can all sing the composition together. I recommend making the last step voluntary, as leading vocally can be intimidating for students even in a safe and long-prepared classroom environment.

Composing and evolving whale songs

Objectives: Deepen understanding of sound/music in ecosystems; generate and refine original musical ideas; identify and visually represent qualities of music including pitch, melodic contour, rhythm, tempo, articulation, and dynamics; sing/sound and improvise as an ensemble.

Materials: paper, pencil, and coloring utensils (optional).

This activity is a lot like the “bird song” exercise described above, but it works best with students working in groups, and there is a different participatory outcome in the end. Follow the procedure above, but with the inclusion of a video on how and why whales sing, how whales change their songs over time, and how noises caused by human activities are degrading whale populations throughout the world (https://youtu.be/7Xr9BYhlceA). Place the students into groups. Together, the group will compose the short and simple “whale” song, using a novel notation system and sounds similar to those identified in the recordings. Each group will then teach the class their song. Then, each group will make a slight change to the original song, and perform it for the class. The original group will then determine what changes were made. This whole process might take more than one class period, but the group singing can sometimes make vocalizing less intimidating. With both activities, the focus should not be on clear and beautiful vocalization, but on being playful and creative.

Audio production project

Objectives: Deepen understanding of sound/music in ecosystems; select, arrange, and refine found sounds; generate and refine original musical ideas using a variety of sound sources; develop technical and creative music production skills; develop storytelling abilities and techniques; connect sound/music with other academic topics; use sound/music to convey thoughts, feelings, and information.

Materials: computers/tablets, internet access, and a digital audio workstation (DAW).

Using a DAW of your choice, create either a musical composition, podcast, or an audio collage that brings together various sounds, including recordings you make, digital instruments, your voice, and soundscape recordings. Your project may consist of more than one audio file, and you may combine media types (e.g. making a song and a podcast). When using your voice, you do not have to limit yourself to speaking or singing. Your voice can be used as creatively as you would like, either to make beautiful sounds or to make sounds that are wild and weird. Some questions to consider when composing your music, planning your podcast, or designing and constructing your audio collage may be 1) how can a soundscape be used like an instrument? 2) how can instruments and voices musically interact with soundscapes? 3) how can soundscapes be used to provide background, foreground, or a “setting” for instruments and voices? 4) what should I say explicitly with my words, and what should I leave up to my use of instruments, soundscapes, and/or editing? 5) how can I use audio effects to express, highlight, or manipulate sounds in expressive ways? 6) how can I use effects to help tell the story I have written, by changing my use of them over time? 7) how can the DAW be used as a canvas for collage-making? Not all of these questions must be answered, and you do not have to “answer” any of the questions directly. Pondering questions like these can be helpful for getting started, or working around issues and “creative blocks.”